The Eyes of Ra
by Franciscan Gypsy
Summary: I'm not sure if I put this up as Vivid Dreamer or not. If I did, it got erased like all my other Vivid Dreamer stuff. Characters from 3 of my favorite archeology movies/shows meet -- SG1, Mummy,& Indiana Jones. Maybe Tomb Raider later on as well
1. Prologue

**I do not own the characters of the Mummy, Stargate SG-1, or Indiana Jones, I'm afraid, no matter how much I'd like to. I do own this story however, and am quite happy with it, so please be nice and R&R. Constructive criticism is appreciated as long as it is put kindly. I will try to incorporate your comments into my story if I think they make sense.**

**Enough from me! I'll just let you enjoy the story now:) **

BBBB 

Back when the Earth was young, and when the Tauri were still a primitive people, Ra ruled the planet. These were his days of glory, when none questioned his authority, and life was good for Goa'uld, if not for his slaves. Although his authority was supreme, he posted his lieutenants, called the Eyes of Ra, in different parts of the planet to oversee his kingdom and to ensure that the Tauri stayed faithful to him. Bastet, Shu, and Tefnut, Ra's three Eyes, reminded the Tauri of their places and put down revolts with an iron hand.

The slaves held the Eyes in awe, for they were different from their god, but were still very powerful. The Eyes used this awe to their master's advantage, striking fear into the hearts of the people whenever they could, for Ra's glory was their joy.

As the centuries went on, the hold of Ra and his Eyes began to slip, for the Tauri began to doubt their god, and uprisings became more frequent. Now when the Eyes destroyed rebellious leaders of the Tauri, these men were looked upon as martyrs instead of as sinners, and resentment against the Eyes and Ra himself grew.

Finally, in an effort that would change the history of earth, the slaves attacked the Eyes, starting with Tefnut, and soon the revolutions spread to take down Bastet and Shu as well. Left vulnerable without his Eyes, and unable to regain control of the Tauri, Ra fled Earth with his most faithful human slaves and his Jaffa for the nearby planet of Abydos. He never returned Earth, and kept his slaves on Abydos ignorant on what had happened there. He ruled there in safety until the 20th century, when Earth sent out its first explorers through the Stargate.

Ra's Eyes, on the other hand, were each sealed in a personal sarcophagus and Shu and Tefnut were buried as deeply as the Tauri could dig them. Bastet's sarcophagus was banished through the Circle of the gods and was forever exiled as the Tauri hid the Circle under the sands. All information of the Eyes and the Circle was allowed to be lost and forgotten, for fears that Eyes might be rediscovered and attempt to return Ra to the throne.

So there they lie in their different resting places, awaiting the day that they might be uncovered and walk the Earth once more. Their hopes lie in bringing Ra back into power, for it is only then that they will be restored to their former glory.

So they wait, silently influencing time from their tombs….


	2. Chapter 1

Egypt – 1936 

"Oh, come ON, Evie, can't we take a break now? I haven't had a drink in hours!"

The attractive brunette didn't even look up from her excavating at the sound of her brother's whiny voice. "That's probably a good thing, Jonathan," she retorted as she lovingly wiped some dust of off an ancient tablet so as to better read the hieroglyphs imprinted on it. It held some kind of wonderful, as yet undiscovered secret on it; she just knew it…

"Uh, Evie… honey… he DOES have a point." The second voice was that of Evie's husband, Rick O'Connell, and it held a little more force than her brother's. Rick was not the whimpering type, and although he was tired, she could tell that most of his concern was for her. He knew how wrapped up she could get in excavating if she thought that she was on the verge of a discovery.

"You have to eat sometime," he pointed out reasonably.

Evie sighed and rose gracefully to her feet, the tablet still clutched in her hand. "This is amazing, Rick," she said, making her way over to where the two men had set up their temporary camp. She lowered herself on the blanket Rick had set out for them and put her head on her husband's shoulder. Her fingers traced the marking on the tablet. "It speaks some 'eye of Ra' who channeled Ra's powers and authority over the people… the ancient Egyptians may have had some whole cult that we haven't even heard about until now! This could change the whole way scholars look at ancient Egyptian religion."

She rolled her blue eyes at him as she set the artifact on her lap. "But here we are, sitting on the resting place of what might be the greatest discovery of Egyptology to the present time, and we're taking a break for LUNCH!" Evie sounded disgruntled, and Rick laughed in spite of himself at the petulance in her tone.

"Relax, honey," he soothed her, "I promise that you'll have plenty of time to raise mummies from the dead and inflict us with ancient curses, AFTER we eat."

Evie glared at him and punched him in the arm where her head had rested on a second before. "That wasn't funny," she told him icily, as he rubbed his arm.

Rick grinned. "I thought it was." He held up his hand as she cocked her fist again. "Peace! I'll stop teasing you about Imhotep if you stop hitting me."

She lowered her fist and put her head back on his shoulder, prompting him to wrap his arm around her. "That's better."

"Are you two finished fighting then?" Rick and Evie looked up in surprise, having forgotten that Jonathan was there. Some time during their argument, Evie's older brother had gone to fetch her son, Alex, and the two of them were now staring impatiently at the couple.

Evie blushed, hoping the Alex hadn't seen her punch his father. "Yes, we're quite finished. Jonathan, hurry up and pass around the food, I want to get back to that wall I found this tablet near. It have the most amazing paintings on it, and I think it might be something important…"

Rick and Jonathan rolled their eyes in defeat as Evie went off on a description of her discovery for a second time, now going into more detail and Alex eagerly peppered her with questions.

"We're going to be here a while," Jonathan muttered to Rick through the side of his mouth, "Days even."

Rick sighed, but a soft smile touched his lips as he watched the animated face of his wife. "Yeah," he mouthed back, "but at least it makes her happy."

And when Evie was happy, Rick was a contented man.

BBBBB

Lunch had been a short affair, and Evie returned as quickly as she could to her precious tablet and wall. She soon became lost in the world of Pharos and their people as she softly translated the artifact's mysteries. Some of the words were of a language she could not quite understand, although it was similar in many ways to that of ancient Egyptian.

_I'll have to try and reference it when we go back home to London,_ she decided, mentally setting aside that section for now.

Evie let a wistful sigh as she stared at the symbols, though. She could just feel that they were something important, some explanation – SOMETHING. The rest however, looked easy enough to translate.

"Pet the lion's mane, and hear him purr. O Lord Ra, the happiness of your Eye, Shu, gives you power and joy!"

"Evie, are you talking to yourself again?" Rick called from a different part of the pyramid.

Evie glanced up briefly from her work. "Only a little bit, Rick; it helps in the translating. I think I have part of a monument of praise here, or something. There's an interesting script I've never seen here before… but the rest seems almost to be directions to open some kind of secret adoration chamber."

Silence followed her explanation. "So…" Rick finally answered, "Everything as normal, right?"

Evie smothered a chuckle, imagining the look on his face. Apparently he found her explanation to be a little too detailed for his liking. "Absolutely, Rick. Nothing to worry about."

Rick probably thought that he spoke softly enough not to be heard, but the ancient walls bounced his words back to her all the same. "That's what worries me."

_I'm not THAT accident-prone!_ Evie thought, rolling her eyes as she trailed her fingers against the picture of Shu on the wall and gently pushed. _I've only brought one mummy back to life and incurred one curse on us over a period of ten years. That's a pretty good track record if you ask me!_

Her indignant thoughts were interrupted as the wall suddenly drew away from her, causing her to stumble. It was only by grabbing onto a stationary wall that she prevented herself from landing face-first on the ground.

Once she caught her breath, Evie stared curiously at her discovery. _Well, how about that…_

The painting of Shu had turned out to be part of a large hidden door that concealed a passageway that was rather drab as Egyptian passage went. Evie retrieved her torch from the stand she had propped it on, and headed into the hidden room.

It didn't even occur to her to call out to the men to let them know where she was going, so fascinated was she with her discovery. This excitement continued to grow as, after a while of traveling along the descending passageway, she discovered a brilliant gold sarcophagus all but hidden under the sand.

"Oh, heavens," she whispered, eyes greedily taking in the wealth of new knowledge set before her, "This is must be the chief priest of Shu lies."

She knelt down next to the sarcophagus and gently wiped the sand off of it. It contained the same strange script that had been on the tablet, as well as the figure of Shu apparently flying over his realm. Disappointment filled her in spite of the discovery – what she wouldn't give to be able to translate the hieroglyphs before her.

Just as she thought this, the text imbedded in the brilliant gold box seemed to shift, and to Evie's amazement, she could now make it out to be ancient Egyptian.

She blinked. _That's odd._

Uneasily she wondered if she should go fetch Rick, but she squelched the thought. _He'll just make me leave it alone,_ she reasoned.

Evie couldn't bear to do that now. Not while she was so close to discovering the secrets of this cult called the Eye of Ra. Peeking over her shoulder to make sure that she wouldn't be interrupted, she swiftly translated the words on the sarcophagus.

"Your faithful one awaits, O Ra, to deliver you from the unbelievers. Forever shall Shu fight for you, and you will rule your people once more. Time shall not prevent this, and nor shall death."

Evie stared at the inscription, biting her lip. "This doesn't make any sense," she muttered, "Ra and Shu were gods, yet all the sarcophagus will talk about is them – it says nothing about the poor man lying there."

She placed her hand on the key located on the inscription of the sarcophagus, wishing that she could open it, but unable to locate a lock with her eyes. Maybe she should go retrieve some of her tools…

"Evie, haven't I asked you NOT to wander off on your own?" Rick's irritated voice caused her to jump. She turned to find her husband leaning against the wall in the passageway, disappointment and worry apparent in his face.

Evie's fingers stroked the inscription in embarrassment as her cheeks crimsoned. "Oh, I'm sorry, Rick; I forgot! I was so excited…"

Rick's blue eyes stared right into hers, concern now the only emotion there. "Hon, with your propensity for getting in trouble, your getting too excited to tell me where you're going can get you killed." He stepped closer to her, a memory causing pain to flash across his face. "I don't want to have to live through that again," he whispered.

Evie felt terrible. She should have known Rick would feel that way about it. She opened her mouth to apologize to him when she felt a cold prickling in her fingers, then a hot flash as if she had been burned.

Shocked, Evie yanked her tingling hand away from the sarcophagus, stumbling backwards into Rick. Rick grabbed her by the shoulders and steadied her.

"Evie, what's wrong?" he demanded, his fingers digging deeply into her shoulders.

"I don't know," she began. Then, in front of her eyes, the spectral figure of a lion-headed man rose from the sarcophagus. He floated over it for a second, studied her, and then offered her leering salute. Something about him repulsed her; it was like he an aura of evil.

_It's Shu_, her mind told her in amazement, although she didn't know how she knew, _It's Shu, he's evil, and you've released him! Good job, Evie; you're becoming quite proficient at plaguing the world with evil powers-that-be._

"Rick," she gasped, grabbing her husband's wrist in fright, "Did you see that?"

Rick looked down at her in puzzlement. "See what, hon? Are you hurt?"

Evie's body shook as Shu smirked at her and faded away. She turned to face Rick and put her head on his chest tearfully. "Rick, I think we're in trouble."


	3. Chapter 2

The Forests of Central America – 1949 

The early morning sun was greeted by the sound of buzzing flies and waking wildlife. A spider crawled across a large mound, nearly losing its balance on the unstable surface. A hand came seemingly out of nowhere and flicked it off, sending it flying into the forest.

Indiana Jones, university professor and archeologist/adventurer sat up on the forest floor, his hand absently rubbing where the arachnid had only been seconds before. He wasn't thinking about the wildlife around him, though; his mind was on more important matters as they studied the forest.

Not finding the object of his search, Indy bolted to his feet, barely rescuing his scuffed hat from tumbling off his head. "Dad!" he yelled anxiously, his voice echoing back to him like a saucy child.

There was no answer. Indy's stomach felt like it had twisted itself in a tight knot. "Darn it," he muttered to himself, collecting his whip and tying it securely to his belt, "I _knew_ this was a bad idea."

He motioned at his guide, a small, shifty-eyed man, to follow him. The man cringed away from him, and Indy suddenly realized that he was waving with his gun. Sheepishly he slipped the weapon in its holster. He put his hands up where the man could see them and smiled comfortingly. "Sorry about that," he apologized, "Forgot I was holding that. C'mon, we need to find my father, and I'd feel better if we went together."

He smiled disarmingly. "For my own protection of course."

The guide threw him a dubious look, but decided to take Indy's humor in stride. "Hokay," he said in broken English, "Your _papa_, he like the stone pictures. He maybe go to see, yes?"

"It's worth a try," Indy conceded. Inside, he was fuming. It would be just like his Dad to forget about their agreement to examine the artifacts as a _family_ and just go off on his own to check out the stone monuments they had found the night before. So much for the Jones family vacation.

The guide smiled happily at him, now more at ease, and motioned for Indy to follow him through the forests.

BBBBB

Doctor Henry Jones Senior studied the beautifully crafted walls deep within the pyramid in fascination. It had been difficult to get to this Central-American beauty due to the forest choking it, but they had made it, and it was well-worth the dangerous trip.

His fingers gently caressed the cobra staring at him from the wall.

"So beautiful," he whispered to himself.

The etching was stylized as if to symbolize something, but it didn't look like any Central American god that he could remember. As his hand grazed the top of the cobra hood near the eyes, the eyes seemed to glow and the wall swung away from him to reveal a hidden room behind it.

Jones stared open-mouthed, startled for a second, but then recovered with a wide grin as he realized what an amazing discovery lay before him. He stepped through without pausing any longer, holding his torch high so he could better view the dark space. Stone was gaudily decorated with gold and jewels smiled back at him in the dim light, but he barely noticed them.

The sarcophagus in the middle of the room captured his attention and admiration instead.

"The Mayans had sarcophagi?!" the professor could not hold in his enthusiasm, and his voice reverberated in the close interior. "Fascinating."

He moved over to the object of his attention and bent over it, trying to read the script engraved on the expensively decorated artifact. Even after all this time, the sarcophagus was in amazing shape.

Jones frowned as he leaned even closer to the symbols on the sarcophagus; they were not a language he recognized. He pressed his hand down on the smooth surface in frustration. "Fiddlesticks," he muttered, "oh. Well. Maybe Junior will know how to translate it."

"Translate WHAT, Dad?" the sound of his son's aggravated voice startled Jones into looking up and back the way he had come. Indiana Jones did NOT look pleased.

"And what did I tell you about wandering off by yourself? We agreed to wait to see this TOGETHER." The younger man leaned against the doorway, glaring at Jones from under the brim of his fedora. "This doesn't look like together."

The guide looked over at Jones apologetically and shrugged helplessly. _Couldn't stop him_, his body language seem to say.

Jones sighed. His son COULD be difficult to refuse at times with his less than refined ways of persuasion. Violence had always worked well for Indy, and so the younger Jones had never really learned to do things his father's way – patiently and with some sort of dignity.

Indy was definitely his mother's son more than his father's.

"Junior, I have been caring for myself on such expeditions long before you were born," the professor protested, returning his attention to Indy, "I do not need you to 'keep an eye on' me."

Indy's arms-over-chest pose did not scream out that he was in any way convinced by his father's statement. "Huh."

Jones grit his teeth and pressed his hand harder into the sarcophagus. "I mean it, Junior, I was fi…" he never finished the word, gasping as a strange tingling ran into his fingers from the sarcophagus and jolted into his hand and arm. "Good Heavens!"

Suddenly nerveless, his other hand dropped the torch it was holding up, and the room plunged into darkness as it fizzled out. As Jones struggled to keep his balance, an image of a cobra lifted out of the sarcophagus like a phantom. The animal seemed to smile at him in a malevolent manner, giving him chills of horror before it disappeared from his sight.

"Dad?!" Jones faintly registered Indy's cry and the sound of his son running toward him, but the information was unimportant to him. He lost his balance as the image faded away and fell to his knees, wanting to retch, but physically unable to.

_Good God, what have I done?_


	4. Chapter 3

PX-321 – 1998 

"Ah, man, not trees _again_!"

Colonel Jack O'Neill's protest to the planet at large startled all the wildlife into silence. O'Neill gave an exaggerated sigh and turned to his second-in-command. "Why couldn't we get a beach for once?"

Captain Samantha Carter choked down what sounded suspiciously like a giggle. "I don't know, sir. Must just be our luck."

"Bum luck if you ask me," Jack growled irritably as he stepped away from the Stargate. "All right, kids, let's get this fieldtrip done as soon as possible. Geez, I could be FISHING right now."

Doctor Daniel Jackson, the archeologist/linguist/anthropologist of the team bit his cheek to keep in his own urge to laugh. Although Jack wasn't as obviously checking out the area as their silent Jaffa teammate, Teal'c, behind his cheerful griping, the Colonel was hiding a calculating mind that took in everything around them. Daniel was willing to bet that an animal wouldn't get within ten feet of them without Jack noticing beforehand.

"Talk about torture," muttered Daniel, unable to resist the chance to prod at Jack, though, "Fishing – ugh." He attached his clip-on sunglasses to the glasses he already wore.

"Heathen," Jack retorted readily, "Teal'c, you're with Carter. I've got Daniel-duty."

As the only civilian in the team, Daniel usual had the over-protective Colonel keeping an eye on him. It drove the younger man insane, although he had to admit to himself that he appreciated the fact that his team wanted to take care of him.

"As you say, O'Neill." Teal'c inclined his head toward his team leader and then raised an eyebrow in Sam's direction. "I believe we should start to the right of the Chaap'ai, Captaincarter."

"That's as good a place as any," Sam shrugged. "We'll keep in contact, sir."

Daniel didn't even wait for Jack to finish watching Teal'c and Sam head off. "Jack, the M.A.L.P. indicated that there were buildings over that way." The archeologist pointed excitedly in the direction that was directly opposite of the way Sam and Teal'c had gone.

"Looked more like ruins to me, Danny." Jack sighed. Daniel was certain that Jack would let him go ahead and look, though. He knew that what Daniel did was important in their fight against the Goa'uld, even if it bored the colonel personally. Daniel didn't get very far heading toward his destination before Jack caught up with him, eyeing the area suspiciously with one hand on his P-90. Daniel only carried a handgun himself, and didn't even bother pulling it out. Chances were he wouldn't hit anything, so why bother?

Finally they came to a clearing, in the middle of which sat Daniel's ruins. Daniel knew he was probably grinning like a fool, but he couldn't wait to start examining the premises.

Jack took one look at his face and laughed. "Hold on there, Danny. Lemme make sure it's clean and make a perimeter and THEN you can go play."

It seemed to take forever, but finally Jack gave him the go-ahead to examine the building. "Don't touch anything that looks UNUSUAL before clearing it through me, okay, Daniel?"

Daniel rolled his eyes. Sometimes Jack treated him like such a child. "Ja-ACK."

"I'm serious, Daniel."

"Alright. Fine. I get it. Don't touch anything." Daniel made a beeline to his new playground. _Looks like it was a temple once, _he noted to himself, his irritation with Jack nearly forgotten already.

Daniel didn't see Jack for hours, except for short periods when Jack would stop in to check on him. O'Neill could only stand so much of Daniel's enthusiastic babbling at one time, and Daniel could only take a certain amount of Jack's cynical disinterest before they started wanting to kill each other, so the arrangement work out just fine.

This was the reason that Jack wasn't there when Daniel made his big discovery of the day.

It was definitely a sarcophagus, though it obviously hadn't been used for years. It was sealed shut, although the seals did nothing to disturb the beauty of the artifact.

"Ohhh." Daniel was immediately enthralled by the pictographs and hieroglyphs etched all over the surface of the sarcophagus, and dragged his supplies over to the beautiful object. In spite of his delight, the archeologist kept his head enough not to touch the seals, knowing full well that anything could be sustained within the sarcophagus. Instead he contented himself with reading the story engraved upon the healing mechanism.

"Bastet, Eye of Ra, your purring mirrors the joy of Ra. Use your wiles to disarm your foes and purr out your victory to let all know that Ra is their god!"

"That's B.S. and you know it." Jack's voice interrupted Daniel's reading, and the archeologist whirled around, gripping the sarcophagus to catch his balance.

"Jack!" he gasped, "why don't you just run at me and say 'Jaffa Kree!' next time, huh?" He shook his head glaring at his friend. "I could have shot you."

Jack laughed. "Um. Daniel. This is YOU, we're talking about. Remember?"

Daniel glared. Sometimes Jack was so irritating that the younger man just wanted to hit him. Sure, he knew Jack could wipe the walls and the ceiling with him without really exerting himself, but that didn't stop his hands from tingling.

Then it occurred to Daniel that his hands actually WERE tingling.

"What the…!" The words came out as half-exclamation, half-prayer, as the ghostly image of a cat rose from the sarcophagus before Daniel's eyes. Daniel felt such loathing and evil from it that he was instantly afraid. This creature meant no good for mankind.

"Daniel? What's wrong?" Jack's playful tone was gone, and an urgent one replaced it.

Daniel turned numbly to face his friend. "Can't you see her?" he demanded, pointing with one shaking hand to the specter floating above the sarcophagus.

Jack stared at Daniel as if the younger man had gone insane right before his eyes. "See who?" The Colonel's P-90 was raised, but he looked confused as to what he should be aiming at.

Daniel couldn't believe it. "Bastet."

"Where?" Jack sounded skeptical.

"THERE!" Daniel glanced back toward the sarcophagus angrily to make his point, and then did a double-take.

Bastet was nowhere to be seen.


	5. Chapter 4

Egypt – 1936

"In trouble? Again? Hon, what did you TOUCH?"

Rick's voice sounded incredulous, although slightly exasperated. "Scratch that," he said, "what did you see, for starters? Cuz I didn't see a darn thing."

Evie stared at him wide-eyed. "You mean you didn't see Shu?"

Rick sighed. "Um… Hon…. Who's Shu?"

Evie continued to goggle at him, and then all the words poured out as if a dam had been broken.

"Shu. One of the Eyes of Ra. A god of Egypt. Worshipped most prevalently in Heliopolis and Leontopolis. Associated with Air and Divine Knowledge. Takes on the form of a man with a feather on his head, or of a lion-headed man. In this case he showed up as a lion-headed man. Shu. _Your faithful one awaits, O Ra, to deliver you from the unbelievers. Forever shall Shu fight for you, and you will rule your people once more. Time shall not prevent this, and nor shall death…_"

Rick raised his hands to silence her. "Whoa. Whoa. Okay; I get it. Shu."

Evie shut her mouth, shaking visibly.

"But he's a myth, right?" Rick added, holding her close to him. His breath rustled her hair. She looked up at him with wide blue eyes.

"I SAW him, Rick. Right here. In this room." She shivered. "He's evil; I can feel it in my bones. And I released him."

Rick stared down at her, his hand convulsively squeezing her arm. His jaw tightened and he broke their hug to yank her toward the exit. "We're leaving."

Evie's jaw dropped as she hurried to keep up with her husband's long stride. "Rick!" she protested, "We have to find Shu! He's going to be worse than Imhotep – I just know it! We need to send him back to his grave! Please…"

"We'll talk about it on the way back to London. I'm NOT risking you and Alex again!" Rick's tone was firm.

Evie wanted to scream in frustration. He was being so… _American_!

"Jonathan, we're leaving!" Rick yelled ahead of them, "grab Alex now!"

"What's up?" Jonathan whirled around as Rick and Evie burst out of the pyramid. He froze, eyes riveted on Evie's face. She suddenly realized that she was crying. Rick was willing to believe her for now, but wasn't going to do anything about it.

She opened her mouth to explain her quandary to her brother when the tingling hit her again, this time more intensely. Evie gripped Rick's arm with a gasp and began to sway.

"Rick!"

Her husband turned as if in slow motion and then dissolved into a faceless blur.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five **(PX-321 – 1998)

The sand bit her face as she smacked the ground, causing her to sputter and her eyes to water.

"Rick!" Evie cried out again.

"Darn, how did you get in here?!" A voice that was definitely _not_ her husband's answered.

Evie blinked to clear her eyes and flipped her thick dark hair out of her face. A pair of sharp eyes stared down at her from a hardened face, but the black barrel pointed in her general direction was what caused her heart to turn to ice.

_An American,_ she noted distantly as she stared dumbly up at him from her sprawled position. She couldn't bring herself to answer his query.

"We don't even know where we are, how would we know how we got here?" A disgruntled British voice responded. Evie glanced over; it wasn't her brother, but the sight of the elderly gentleman did much to free her from her brain paralysis.

"Jack," a gentler voice interjected, "Bastet might have something to do with this."

Evie's head twisted to get a look at this new speaker. He was young, although old enough to be considered a man. His blue eyes stared thoughtfully at her and the old man from behind his glasses.

The one called Jack snorted, although he never moved his gun so that it wasn't focused on the newcomers. "Daniel, we don't even know that your Bastet was even here. Goa'uld like loud announcements of their arrival; Bastet would'a left awfully quick for a snake."

Evie bristled a little. "Bastet was represented by a cat, not a snake. I believe you are thinking of Amaunet."

"Uh… actually… no." Daniel shrugged. "We're actually literally talking about a snake. Well, I guess not _literally_ but as close to literally as you can get."

Jack sighed, shifting his gun. Evie stared. That was a truly _ugly_ weapon. Daniel glanced at his companion and his explanation picked up speed. "I mean, it's a race of creatures that kind of look like snakes – when they're not in human bodies, that is – and are trying to take over the world." He stopped, panting and nodding.

The elderly gentleman inched closer to Evie. "Did he just deluge at the mouth and go completely and utterly… bonkers?" he murmured.

She studied the young American with fascination. She had begun to believe that all Americans were like Rick or their traveling partners to Hamunaptra. How – refreshing – to be surprised. "I believe so," she replied in an undertone.

Jack, on the other hand, appeared to be very much the typical American she had come to expect. He tapped his fingers along the side of his ugly weapon, his expression completely and utterly bored. "Great. They've been initiated." He sighed. "Look, now that tea-time is over, can we get going." His sharp gaze swept the premises. "Look, Danny, I don't know what you thought you saw, but if you really _did_ see a snake, I really don't want to stick around and see what it has in mind. So snag the civilians and let's get going."

Evie pulled back. "Snag? There's no need being high-handed." She eyed the hieroglyphs. Unfamiliar, though definitely fascinating. "I'm not going _anywhere _with you. Where's my husband?" A cold dread filled her and she almost choked on it. "And my son. What have you done with them?" She backed into the cold stone wall. "I'm not leaving without them. You can drop that idea right away."

"And I'm not all that fond of your manners," the elderly man told Jack. "The lady and I are not merely baggage that you can tote around at your convenience."

Daniel sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose beneath his spectacles. "Ja-ack."

"Fine." Jack smiled tightly at Evie and the elderly man. "Would you too _please_ come with us. We're kind of on a tight schedule right now."

Evie shook her head. The elderly man back up beside her and gripped his umbrella firmly in his hand. "Not interested." He told Jack firmly.

Jack turned to Daniel. "See, I can do nice. It didn't work. Oh, well. Time to pick up some baggage." Faster than Evie expected, he dodge past the old man and swooped her up. Her stomach connected hard with his shoulder, knocking the breath out of her. "I get the lady."

Daniel groaned softly behind them as Jack strode away. "I'm… really sorry. If you could come with me, please, sir?"

Evie caught her breath and glared at Jack's back. "What do you _think_ you're doing? You beastly… _American_!!! You _brute_! _Monster_!"

"I can add a few more colorful words to that list," Jack offered, his tone light, "between my ex-wife and the snakes, I've been called quite a creative selection of names."

"You're a beast."

"No, ma'am, just a soldier. Which, granted, is sometimes worse." Jack stopped short, halting Evie's next set of insults in mid-stream. The muscles of his shoulders shifted beneath her. "Daniel."

Evie glanced up to see the younger American halt as well, his hand hovering in the air in front of the elderly gentleman. "Should we call for back up?"

Jack shook his head. "That magnetic stream thing Carter was talking about is still blocking our radios. We have to wait till rendezvous to hook up with them." He hissed and put Evie down. His weapon made a clicking sound as he adjusted something Evie couldn't quite see. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Goa'uld?" Daniel asked tightly. He pulled a pistol out of his belt. Evie stared. It didn't seem to match his personality but the way he held it spoke of confidence and some level of experience.

She gulped. What kind of men had she discovered? "What's going on here?" she demanded, hating how her voice trembled. "What are the Goa'uld?"

"Don't have time for the meet and greet, kids," Jack held the weapon in front of him and nodded at Daniel. The younger man drifted to Jack's right and a little behind the elderly man. He shifted to watch their back. Jack pulled a pistol from his belt and glanced down at Evie, his brown eyes thoughtful. "Can you handle one of these?"

"Yes." The steel in his eyes froze her to her soul. "Will I need to?"

"Maybe. Hopefully not." Jack handed her the weapon. "If Daniel or I start monologuing about taking over the world or our eyes start glowing – shoot us." He grimaced. "Believe me, you'll be doing us a favor."

Evie shivered and accepted a clip from him. "Do I get know what we're facing?"

"Maybe later. We have to get out of here first." Jack glanced back at Daniel. "Danny, make sure Gramps is locked and loaded, okay?"

"I do not require firearms." The elderly man sniffed. "And my name is Dr. Jones, young man, and thankfully, I am no grandfather of yours."

Jack sighed. "Explain the facts of life to the Doc, would you, Danny? We really don't have time for this." He glanced at Evie. "Stay behind me and keep that pistol at ready. Shoot anything that moves."

"How… American." In spite of herself, she found herself smiling as she said it. How like Rick.

Jack shrugged. "Hey, it worked for John Wayne."

Evie blinked. "Who..?"

Sparks exploded on the stone next to her face and Jack cursed. He snagged her arm and yanked her down to the ground next to him. "Daniel?!"

"Not behind me. I don't know where they're at." Evie peeked past Jack. Daniel crouched against a wall, clutching one hand to his side, his other hand pressed against Dr. Jones' shoulder.

"Are you hurt?" she demanded, trying to shake free of Jack. Jack stiffened.

"Danny?" the soldier demanded.

"It's okay, Jack, I just got nicked. I'll be fine." Daniel pulled his hand back from his side guiltily. He checked the safety on his pistol and pulled it back.

Dr. Jones peered past Daniel's guarding arm. "That's an awful lot of blood for just a nick, son."

Jack sighed. "Daniel, if you bleed to death, we're going to have words."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "I'll keep that in mind." He shifted his position slightly. "Did you see who was shooting at us? Was it Bastet?"

"I'm not completely convinced that you actually saw Bastet, Daniel." Jack shook his head. "And, no, I didn't see who was shooting at us. Or what they used. They could have been using blow-darts for all I know."

Evie let out a shaky breath. "And believe me, you don't want to underestimate the destructive power of blow-darts."

Jack cocked an eyebrow. "Personal experience."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you the half of it." Evie leaned against the wall, narrowing her eyes against the dark.

"I think you'd be kind of surprised about what we're willing to believe." Daniel nudged Dr. Jones forward and the two of them waddled closer. "So, Jack, what's the plan?" He pushed up his glasses. "Just for the record, I still think I saw Bastet back there."

Something clicked in Evie's head. "What did she look like?"

Daniel blinked owlishly behind his glasses. "Wha-?"

Evie motioned impatiently with her free hand. "Bastet. What did she look like?"

"It was kind of odd… actually." Daniel cocked his head. "She looked like a cat. Which, I guess, isn't so odd, considering that that is the image she is purported to have favored in Egyptian lore, but unless Goa'uld have started taking animal hosts..." He shook his head slowly. "I don't even know why I was so certain, but I just knew that I saw Bastet. A hunch, I guess." He paused. "Oh. And I could see through her. That was… kind of weird."

"What have I told you about drinking beer before a mission, Danny?" Jack's tone was light, but his eyes were cold.

"Nothing. I drink coffee, Jack."

"The two aren't exactly mutually exclusive, y'know."

Evie lifted a hand to halt the bickering. "I saw something similar."

Jack froze. "Just now?"

"Yes. I mean, no. I mean, not quite." She sighed. "Oh, dear, I'm not making much sense, am I?" She shook her head. "Before I came here – which I still haven't completely wrapped my mind around, you understand – I was at a dig down in Thebes with my husband, son, and brother. I found a sarcophagus with an inscription about Ra and Shu. I read an inscription on the sarcophagus and Shu rose out of it." She shuddered. "I could see through him too – and he felt – evil – somehow. It was awful. Then the world sort of faded away and was here." She rubbed the goose bumps forming on her bare arms. "And I have no idea where I am now or what happened to my family."

"I saw a cobra. And I got the same impression as the lady." Dr. Jones offered. He paused. "How fascinating."

"I guess. If you like horror stories." Jack grimaced. "Daniel? What's going on?"

Daniel shook his head. "I don't know, Jack. It doesn't sound like Goa'uld. But it definitely isn't _good._" 

Jack stared at him. "Ya think?" He stood up slowly. "Alright, campers, let's get going. If they were going to kill us, they would have done it by now. I think we should leave before whoever it was changes their minds." He shook his head. "Something else to worry out besides snakes. Why can't I have a _good_ day for once?"


End file.
